1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a dart, and particularly to a dart that flashes light for a period of time when the dart strikes a dartboard.
2. Description of Related Art
Throwing darts is a leisure activity that is entertaining and competitive so throwing darts is popular. A player throws a dart at a dartboard that has multiple areas representing different points. The player scores points corresponding to the points assigned to the area on the dartboard in which the dart strikes. Players may compete head-to-head, or teams of players may compete with other teams.
Conventional darts simply consist of a barrel with two ends, a point attached to one end of the barrel and a shaft with a tail attached to the other end of the barrel, and a flight attached to the tail of the shaft to provide stability to the whole dart. Therefore, conventional darts do not have any extra features such as light or sound when the dart strikes the dartboard.
With reference to FIG. 6, a conventional flashing dart was invented to create more fun in a dart game. The conventional flashing dart is composed a hollow barrel (30), a battery (36), a point (32), a lighting element (34), a transparent shaft (38) and a stabilizing flight (39). The hollow barrel (30) has a front end (not numbered) and a rear end (not numbered). The battery (36) is mounted inside the barrel (30). The point (32) retractably mounted on the front end of the barrel (30). The lighting element (34) is embedded in the rear end of the barrel (30). The transparent shaft (38) with a distal end is attached to the rear end of the barrel (30). The stabilizing flight (39) is attached to the distal end of the shaft (38).
The barrel (30) is made of conductive material and has a channel (not numbered) axially defined through the barrel (30). The battery (36) is mounted inside the channel and has one electrode (not numbered) connected to the lighting element (34) and the other electrode (not numbered) operationally connected to the point (32). The lighting element (34) connected to the battery (36) inside the channel is further in electrical contact with the barrel (30). The point (32) protruding from the barrel (30) is also in electrical contact with the barrel (30) and has a coil spring (33) mounted around part of the point (32) inside the channel to provide a restitution force to the point (32).
When the conventional flashing dart is thrown, the dart acquires momentum. When the dart hits the dartboard, the dart""s momentum compresses the coil spring (33) and causes the point (32) to be pushed into the hollow barrel (30) and make contact with the electrode of the battery (36). With the point (32) in contact with the electrode, an electrical circuit is closed and turns on the lighting element (34). When the dart""s momentum dissipates, the coil spring (33) pushes the point (32) back to an original, position thereby breaking the electrical circuit to save electrical power.
However, the conventional flashing dart only lights up very briefly when the point (32) contacts with the battery (36). The flash of the flashing dart does not persist and is not attractive enough for players.
The present invention has arisen to provide a flashing dart to obviate the drawbacks of the conventional flashing dart.
A first objective of the present invention is to provide a flashing dart that is activated by inertia force.
A second objective of the present invention is to provide a flashing dart that emits lights for a preset period of time.